Day surgery for older people (70+): selection versus outcome effects.

As length of Australian hospital stays decreased, concerns were raised about benefits of shorter stays for older people. We investigated personal characteristics, perceived health outcomes (SF-36) and service use of day-only and other patients aged 70+, at one and 12 weeks after hospital discharge. Day-only patients were younger, had better self-reported health, were selected for orthopaedic, gastrointestinal and ophthalmic procedures and used similar levels of formal and informal services after discharge as people with longer stays. There was no evidence of ill effects of day surgery for older people, but improved selection and information giving procedures can improve outcomes.